American Idol Season 8, 2009 discussion - ***possible spoilers***

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Chris R, Jan 11, 2009.

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  1. Chris R

    Chris R Forum Fones Thread Starter

    From Wikipedia.

    Main article: American Idol (season 8)

    The eighth season of American Idol will begin on January 13, 2009. Auditions began July 17. It has been revealed that this season will feature fewer drawn-out audition episodes and more half-hour result shows. Mike Darnell, the president of alternative programming for Fox, stated that this season the contestants will be more emotional and viewers will see more of their reality and emotional state. Also this season will have a fourth judge on the panel: record producer and songwriter Kara DioGuardi.

    After Fox and producers promised changes to the show, on August 4 showrunner and executive producer Nigel Lythgoe announced he was leaving "Idol" to focus on international versions of his other show So You Think You Can Dance.

    It was also announced that Idol Gives Back will not return this season due to the ongoing economic crisis and recession.

    This season will feature for the first time 36 semifinalists with 12 different semifinalists performing every Tuesday. The male, female, and the next top vote getter with the highest number of America's votes will make it into the top 12. This season will also feature the return of the Wildcard round last used in Season 3 with the judges chosing three eliminated contestants to advance to the finals.


    Think we can agree that last season overall was bit of a snooze fest outside of tuning in each week to see if Brooke White was going to have another meltdown. When they got down to the top 10, most agreed that it was going to be a David Cook and David "Archie" Archuleta finale.

    Based on that I'm not expecting too much this season. However, I would love to be surprised. Who knows. Maybe they'll find another Jennifer Hudson, Chris Daughtry, Carrie Underwood, etc.

    Be interesting to see what it's like with the new 4th judge. Also wondering if the show will be much different with Nigel Lythgoe leaving.

    Preivous discussions can be found here.

    American Idol - Season 7, 2008 - discussion ***possible spoilers***

    American Idol - Season 6, 2007 - discussion ***possible spoilers***

    Let's try and keep the discussion light and fun this year. :)
     
  2. SoundAdvice

    SoundAdvice Senior Member

    Location:
    Vancouver
    Clarkson(20m sold internationally)
    Underwood(11m sold)
    Aiken(7m sold)
    Daughtry(4.5m, fast selling rock debut in history)
    Ruben Studdard(2.4m sold, 3 gospel cds)
    Pickler(1m+, 2 cds)

    Kat McPhee(dropped after 1st album claims to be making 2nd)
    Paris Bennett(2 cds on family owned label)
    (W. Hung - indie label, was brought back on a finalist show as guest performer? 4cds/250,000 sold?)
    Bo Bice - 2nd cd on indie label & walmart.
    Fantasia - 2nd cd forthcoming. Also has book and hollywood career
    Taylor Hicks - 1 label album and dropped. Has indie albums(book? DVD?)
    "Davids"(still on first cycle, time will tell. Cook sold 850,000)
    Jennifer Hudson - has Hollywood career(yet to return after family murders)

    Any other US Idol contestant last more than 1 album cycle?
     
  3. zen archer

    zen archer Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston Ma.usa
    We will not start watching until they get down to 24 contestants (maybe less) .

    It's just a waste of time watching people who can't sing make fools of themselves.....it's
    becoming too predictable.
     
  4. lv70smusic

    lv70smusic Senior Member

    Location:
    San Francisco, CA
    Fantasia's second cd has been out for a long time now. Is she working on a third?

    I'm actually looking forward to the bad auditions. Yes, it's predictable, but I still get a kick out of the truly terrible auditions.

    What I'm going to try to do this year is tune out after the bad auditions are done. Last year was such a disappointment in terms of talent in the finalists that when it was all over I felt I had really wasted my time watching every week. Who cares who wins when even the best remaining contestants aren't very good?
     
  5. Glen B

    Glen B New Member

    Location:
    USA
    Ditto. After getting home from a hard and stressful day's work, I can always use a few good laughs to help unwind. Taking in the deluded folks who believe they can sing is comedy at its finest. :D
     
  6. Trebor

    Trebor Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, USA
    Here are some of the other "Idols" not mentioned earlier that now have CDs listed on Amazon.

    Constantine Maroulis
    Carmen Rasmusen
    Elliott Yamin
    Michael Johns
    Jordin Sparks
    Diana DeGarmo
    Brooke White
    Jon Peter Lewis
    Chris Sligh
    Blake Lewis
    Carly Hennessy aka Carly Smithson
    Kristy Lee Cook
    Phil Stacey
    Bucky Covington
     
  7. tcj

    tcj Senior Member

    Location:
    Phoenix
    Tremendously bad decision. I know a LOT more people who tune in solely to watch the often hilariously bad auditions, then immediately tune out until near the end, if they tune back in at all.

    The only thing I wish they would stop doing is bringing in the people who seem to be, for lack of a better word, "touched" just to make fun of them. There are people whose egos are out of control but who don't realize they actually can't sing, and I don't mind making fun of those people because that really is the kind of person that deserves it, but every season, there is at least one if not several contestants who seem to be more than a bit mentally challenged, and it's not nice, fair, or remotely funny to make fun of them.
     
  8. DJ WILBUR

    DJ WILBUR The Cappuccino Kid

    fabulously heinous drawn out audition episode tonight. Wow! "the way you make me feel indeed"...
     
  9. JohnG

    JohnG PROG now in Dolby ATMOS!

    Location:
    Long Island NY
    I'm waiting for red bikini girl. :)
     
  10. JohnG

    JohnG PROG now in Dolby ATMOS!

    Location:
    Long Island NY
    The red bikini didn't disappoint! :D
     
  11. rburly

    rburly Sitting comfortably with Item 9

    Location:
    Orlando
    There was definite male/female difference of opinion.

    She should be forced to sing in the red bikini all the way through!
     
  12. JohnG

    JohnG PROG now in Dolby ATMOS!

    Location:
    Long Island NY

    That would be nice! :)
     
  13. Chris R

    Chris R Forum Fones Thread Starter

    The freak factor is really wearing thin on my gf and me. There were some absolutely wacked out people attempting to sing this evening, if you could call it that. The one dude that was supposedly singing Tears For Fears - "Mad World". :wtf: was that? :crazy: The other guy with the deep voice was extremely creepy and weird. Why do they even let these people audition? These auditions are painful to watch.

    Then they turn around and edit 10 people together in 3 seconds telling us they're all going to Hollywood. That's great, but can we see their auditons? Sheesh. There isn't enought of a balance between the freaks vs, say, the nice young woman who sang Etta James - "At Last", which was very good.

    Do the producers/editors get a kick out this? Does FOX think the ratings will go up, that we'll be discussing these freaks at the water cooler tomorrow?

    I'm metioning the auditions here because this is an actual discussion on American Idol. I have no intention of bringing this up for discussion at work tomorrow or guitar class tomorrow evening.
     
  14. lv70smusic

    lv70smusic Senior Member

    Location:
    San Francisco, CA
    Yes, the producers of Idol think that people will be talking about some of the stranger auditions with their colleagues. As I and others have written, some of us actually enjoy the freakishly bad auditions. The only ones that make me uncomfortable are the ones where it's clear that there is something seriously wrong with the contestant beyond being delusional about being able to sing well. When they air developmentally delayed people auditioning and then make fun of them, it is uncomfortable to watch.

    The formula that's wearing thin for me more is being told every week how great the various finalists are when, in fact, the majority of the performances are karaoke-quality good but hardly anything I'd actually want to hear again and again, much less something I'd actually want to pay to hear.

    That being said, I haven't watched last night's episode yet. It's on my dvr for watching later today.

     
  15. Agree, good fun to relax in the evening. :agree:
     
  16. She did not - welcome to Hollywood. ;)
     
  17. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Gee, it's as if they're deliberately choosing people who are bizarre, horrible, yet entertaining, very much like a train wreck.

    Note that these auditions are edited down from thousands of hours of footage down to about 45 minutes. There's endless behind-the-scenes debates and which contestant to include, how long to show them, what order to put them in, how many comments to include from the judges, etc. This is an extremely calculated show, planned to the Nth degree.
     
  18. shokhead

    shokhead Head shok and you still don't what it is. HA!

    Location:
    SoCal, Long Beach
    And without Idol "NONE" of them gets a chance.
     
  19. applebonkerz

    applebonkerz Senior Member

    I doubt you would have to "force" her to do that at all. More likely, the producers will be forcing her to put more clothes on (unfortunately) all the way through. :angel:
     
  20. tcj

    tcj Senior Member

    Location:
    Phoenix
    Absolutely people talk about this stuff - these audition episodes are some of their highest rated besides the finals. This is what people tune in for. Remember, this is entertainment. I don't know about you, but I think this would be awful boring to simply watch a bunch of mediocre singers punctuated by the occasional exceptional singer. That's their job, not mine. If they edited it down to only the worthy singers, well, then the show would simply move forward a month or so to the Hollywood stage and the auditions would be pointless. You have to keep in the trainwrecks for both the entertainment aspect as well as for a frame of reference.

    Now, my complaint from above was about how they were going to tone down the really nasty trainwreck aspect of the auditions . . . did anyone witness this? This seemed exactly like every other season of Idol that I've seen save for the addition of Kara. I mean, they devoted a significant amount of time to showcasing and making fun of the "rockstar in a box" who obviously was not quite right in the head. Maybe Simon didn't come right out and say "Are you retarded or mentally unstable?" but it was there in how it was filmed and edited - they were clearly presenting him not as a touching, sweet "out of touch guy trying to make a mark" but as "weirdo freak from the office making a fool out of himself." I don't have a doubt that the guy really is the latter, because I've seen and known these types before, maybe not quite to THIS degree, but they didn't have to include him if they wanted to be "nicer."

    And what about Kara? Does she add anything to this show or judging process? The only feeling I came away with about her after last night's show was "I don't like her." She seemed to have a major attitude and didn't seem to offer much of substance. Maybe she'll warm up as the show progresses.
     
  21. RickH

    RickH Connoisseur of deep album cuts

    Location:
    Raleigh, NC
    I watched the first hour last night only because my wife had it on. Having said that, (I have been known to watch a couple of previous seasons) there was this one really nice-looking young girl named Ariana who had a great voice and did extremely well- she was the best of last night's bunch that we got to actually see audition. I predict she'll go pretty far. (so, I may already be hooked this season just to see how far she does get).
     
  22. shokhead

    shokhead Head shok and you still don't what it is. HA!

    Location:
    SoCal, Long Beach
    Wasn't last night the "FIRST" night? Let's see if indeed it gets toned down.
     
  23. tcj

    tcj Senior Member

    Location:
    Phoenix
    Why would it change in later episodes? The press for this has repeatedly mentioned that it would be a toned-down Idol. I didn't see that. I don't see why they would present a typical episode in the first one, then suddenly change gears in the later ones. I think by "toned down" they simply meant that Simon didn't outright call people morons, not that they aren't showcasing possibly mentally handicapped and drug-addled people.
     
  24. shokhead

    shokhead Head shok and you still don't what it is. HA!

    Location:
    SoCal, Long Beach
    I'm thinking with each episode there will be less of the less talented. We will see.
     
  25. reechie

    reechie Senior Member

    Location:
    Baltimore
    She will sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl.
     
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